The effects of a force field on its surroundings vary greatly. Contact with a force field may cause anything from a slight tingle to death. Most force fields are non-lethal, although some civilizations such as the Dominion prefer the lethal variety. If a force field is active, an object or transporter beam generally cannot pass through it, although this is not always the case. The Borg are known to not be hindered by most force fields; they can adapt and simply walk through the field. However, a Borg drone can be cut off from the Borg Collective if it is surrounded by a Starfleet level 10 force field. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar"; TNG: "I Borg")

Force fields could be activated from various locations. On Starfleet starships there were emitter points at almost every junction along every corridor. The computer could be programmed to run a series of force field activations and deactivations within the ship, effectively creating a protected corridor which could follow a person. CommanderData used this technique with great control when he commandeered the USS Enterprise-D on stardate 44085.7. He also demonstrated another technique involving instructing the computer to implement a scan-series of force field activations, activated by his movements along a short distance of corridor, thus forcing the security team to back away from him. (TNG: "Brothers")

When various security measures left over from the Cardassian occupation came on-line on Deep Space 9, Elim Garak was recognized as a person of sufficient importance by the computer to have the force fields dividing the station drop when he approached. (DS9: "Civil Defense")

Force fields are also capable of selective positioning, allowing the majority of it to cover a secure location, while a smaller portion is deactivated to allow transport of food, drinks, and other items; particularly used when it would be considered dangerous to deactivate the entire force field. (VOY: "Repentance")

A containment field is essentially a force field used to prevent the escape of matter or antimatter.

Containment fields were usually raised when cargo bay or shuttlebay doors were opened to keep them pressurized, although the containment field was partially disengaged when a shuttlecraft passed through it. Unfortunately, eighteen engineers from the crew of the USS Yamato were killed when the containment fields in a shuttlebay failed after the ship was infected with an Iconian software transmission. (TNG: "Contagion") A containment field could be manually activated and deactivated should the need arise. (TNG: "Disaster") Containment fields would be used by Starfleet personnel to isolate an area for investigation, such as using a field to isolate a transporter room pad to beam aboard a sample of an object. (VOY: "Death Wish")

In the event of an outer hull breach, emergency force fields were automatically deployed to protect the damaged part from the influences of space; at the same time they prevented decompression of the entire deck by keeping the atmosphere in. During critical situations, such as ship-to-ship battles, if the main defensive force field was ruptured and a section of the ship was destroyed, it took longer for the computer to re-establish the structural integrity field than usual because of the large energy demands already placed on the vessel. In this short space of time, sections of a vessel could indeed be exposed to the vacuum of space. CaptainKirk was lost to the vacuum of space in this way, in 2293, when the USS Enterprise-B was struck by the nexus energy ribbon. (Star Trek Generations)

A lieutenant aboard the Enterprise-E was blown out into space in 2379 before an emergency force field could be activated when the bridge front wall and viewscreen were destroyed by the Reman warbird Scimitar. (Star Trek Nemesis) A similar incident happened during the "Year of Hell" when an alien ship was disabled by the Krenim timeship's conventional weapons, and collided with the almost-already-crippled USS Voyager's bridge front/viewscreen and portions of her decks. Fortunately, Captain Janeway was not blown out into space, due to the quick activation of the emergency atmospheric force fields. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II")

On stardate 49263.5, the USS Defiant, under the command of Captain Benjamin Sisko, descended into the atmosphere of a Class-Jgas giant with 10,000 kilometer per hour wind speeds. The emergency force field that was erected to save the ship from decompression due to a hull breach was not able to withstand the pressure for more than a few minutes. (DS9: "Starship Down")

Starbases, starships, shuttlecraft, and even advanced weaponry (VOY: "Dreadnought", "Warhead") were often equipped with external force field emitters, which, when activated, produced a "bubble" around the generating object, known as defensive shields. These shields were variable, and could even be extended to encompass a nearby vessel or object. (TNG: "The Defector") Defensive force fields could be penetrated in two ways. The most conventional method involved firing energy weapons at the shielded object, which weakened the field. The other method was achieved by matching the frequency of the shield to the weapon used. (Star Trek Generations; VOY: "Equinox, Part II") Chroniton torpedoes could not be stopped by normal shielding but require modifications to enable temporal shielding. (VOY: "Year of Hell")

On holodecks, force fields were used to give objects substance so people could manipulate them like in real life. These force fields had no substance outside the holodeck. They could be configured to either allow passage of "real" matter, or appear solid.

In sickbay, a force field could be used to separate a patient from the rest of the crew when a contagious disease was diagnosed or when a patient needed a specific environment to stay alive. (TNG: "Brothers"; VOY: "Demon", "Threshold")

Force fields were used to contain prisoners inside the holding cells of various races, including Humans, Klingons, and Cardassians. Cardassian technology was able to create a tubular force field from the ceiling to the floor in order to encompass an intruder; however, during First Contact with the Dominion, Jem'Hadar such as Talak'talan could walk right through them. The Federation had adapted similar technology by 2366, and it was in use on the bridge of the Enterprise-D as well. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar"; TNG: "Allegiance")

By 2373, a holo-projection system had been installed on the bridge of the USS Defiant, linked up to the communications system. In this way, a person could 'appear' and speak to others. However, this form of holoprojection had no cohesion, and so people could not interact directly with the hologram. (DS9: "For the Uniform") Holoprojectors of this type were also seen in the captain's office adjacent to Ops aboard space station Deep Space 9. (DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume")

In the same year the crew of the Enterprise-D encountered the Echo Papa 607 weapon, on Minos. One of the weapon's special features is the ability to encase a target in a bubble force field. (TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom")

Contact with Dominion force fields is always lethal and they are even harder to see than those of the Federation, which are visible to the careful eye. Captain Sisko and Quark were held in a Dominion force field when they were kidnapped while on a camping trip with Jake and Nog. A similar force field was used to hold ChiefO'Brien and Doctor Bashir hostage when they were taken prisoner by a rogue group of Jem'Hadar. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar", "Hippocratic Oath")

In 2371, the crew of the USS Voyager encountered the Vidiians, who made extensive use of force fields to conceal their underground bases from intruders. These force fields could be configured to produce the illusion of solid rock, which could fool tricorders and the naked eye. (VOY: "Phage", "Faces")